Seasonal Preaching

Are you a truth teller?    Is your heart open to believe?

Alicia Garcia was a truth teller.  She was one of the founding members of the Co-Madres or the “Mothers of the Disappeared” who told the truth about those who were tortured, killed or jailed by the government of El Salvador during the civil war.  Although she was born poor, abandoned by her mother at three years old, abused by her aunts and uncles and forced to work by the age of seven, something in her soul led her to an extraordinary life.It was Alicia who told Oscar Romero about the massacre on July 30, 1974 and the subsequent student march protesting the disappearance of many young people. Romero believed her, and afterwards met with Alicia and others to help organize the Co-Madres. 

It was Alicia who brought three volumes of black and white photos documenting the worst of the abuses during the civil war to the United Nations.  She sponsored a resolution against forced disappearances, making it an international crime against humanity.  The U.N. believed her and the resolution was passed. Although she did not have much formal education, Alicia continued to speak publicly about her experiences of being tortured at the hands of the U.S – trained Salvadoran military.  She also researched the stories of so many other faceless victims.  Her stories were believed and their lives are resurrected and memorialized on the Wall of Memory that Alicia and the Co-Madres were instrumental in erecting in San Salvador. 

 Alicia is like Mary Magdalene in John’s Gospel.  Mary was a woman with an array of past problems, but she was selected to be the first person to whom Jesus revealed himself after He was tortured and killed.  Because Mary was not initially believed, Jesus reproached their unbelief and “hardness of heart.” In Acts, we are introduced to those who discredited one of Jesus’ healing because it was reported by someone uneducated and untrained.  Yet, they could not deny what they had seen. Jesus reminds us that we are all called to tell our stories and report on the injustices and the miracles that we see.  The face of Jesus is resurrected in all of God’s people.  By having an open heart we are better able to believe that the Divine is alive in every soul.  Healings are happening every day by those who work with Divine energy.  God does not call only those with status, power, clerical collars and credentials to be preachers and healers.  What if Jesus prefers women of simple means?  What if it were you and I?  What if we were able to recognize ourselves as the preachers and healers that we really are?

 “We cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.” 

Heidi Erdmann OPA